the monk Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

In the summer of 2007 we spent a couple of days at Wutaishan, one of the sanctuaries of Chinese buddhism.

Pictures from that trip were among the first I uploaded on TE and your comments motivated me to keep on developping my photography skills. Meanwhile I've started dabbling in PP (still very new to me) and today I had another look at my Wutaishan pictures.
This is a picture I wasn't pleased with originally, but with some PP I think it turned out OK. I'm curious to find out what you think of it.

Very Chinese...

delnaja, sevy, Budapestman, Floydian, ryno, robob has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

delnaja (7708) 2009-01-15 0:46

superb portrait. I like the composition and the choice of the sepia tones. Interesting.

sevy (13272) 2009-01-15 0:54

Bonjour Benny,

Bonne idée ce traitement sepia, je trouve que ca va tres bien a cette photo qui paradoxalement fait en meme temps tres moderne. La photo sort des clichés habituels sur les moines et fait plus reelle.
Je trouve quand meme l aspect sepia un peu trop fort. Personnellement, je prefere quand le virage est plus subtile, plus proche du N&B, mais a chacun ses preferences.

Yves.

aadilj (17950) 2009-01-15 0:57

Nice single tone capture benny, very nciely captured as he looks away. the textures and tones are vivid and wonderfully used

Budapestman (41576) 2009-01-15 1:53

Hi Benny,
According to me, superb photo. The composition is very beautiful. The composition divided into the two parts is a spectacular solution. From behind the inscription looking a monk gives some mystery to the picture. The sepia tone strengthens the nostalgic mood. Congratulations. Have a nice day!
George

chriswhitley (1456) 2009-01-15 2:43

Very Chinese indeed Benny. The sepia works ok here although I'm not generally a big fan. A classic shot with the Chinese writing giving much to the portrait. I'm not keen on too much pp work, but perhaps a clone of the incomplete characters we can just see would have tidied the image up slightly. Just a thought for your pp experimentation. Best regards, Chris

Floydian (30970) 2009-01-15 3:10

Hallo Benny,

Niet alleen de compositie, maar ook de kleurtoning doet het goed hier. Een perfecte timing en vooral je kadering vind ik heel erg goed....zoals in zoveel van je werk.

Groet,

Henk

kevinos (6927) 2009-01-15 5:50

Those Chinese characters certainly lend this one 'character' Benny and the whole is composed nicely against that panel, providing an interesting portrait in a nice n\and relevant context. regards Kevin

pisces (770) 2009-01-15 5:55

Hi Benny!
Great picture and the serpia tone makes it interesting - would also like to see the original colour version and can imagine a B/W would look great too and really bring out the picture!
TFS
Maria

ifanik (20474) 2009-01-15 15:43

Hi Benny
Very nice portrait of the monk of thiw monk
Very good photo
Best regards
Nick

rbcy1974 (20742) 2009-01-16 3:47

Hello BEnny
Very nice and stylized photo,
I really like the reddish tone in the photo giving it an antique aura.
The characters sitting vertically and paralel to th emonk are really estethic,
nicely done
Regards
Daniel

kschanna (2634) 2009-01-16 23:12

Hi Benny

The sepia rendition is doing a good trick here. I like the side pose of the man as well half sticking out of the door. Perhaps a little sharpness.

Thanks for sharing
Kamran

ryno (4590) 2009-01-18 2:23

Great portrait shot, Benny. The light is good enough to illuminate his face clearly, and what makes this photo stand out is the beautiful old pillar with the Chinese characters. It probably would have worked well in colour too (I envisage gold lettering on a red background?) You've caught him at a good moment. Well done!
Ryno

marietom (31796) 2009-01-18 6:18

hello Benny,

Magnifique portrait, dans un superbe décor. C'est très bien réalisé.
Bon dimanche
Marie

robob (3640) 2009-01-18 11:07

Hello Benny,
Je m’arrête sur cette photo car j’aime beaucoup le choix du ton sépia pour cette scène,
Je trouve très chouette également les inscriptions chinoises ainsi que l’attitude du personnage dans ton cadrage,
C’est du très bon boulot !
Bonne soirée et au plaisir Benny,
Robert